1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to telecommunications and, in particular, to voice identification. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to identifying a context of a call.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone service has created communication channels worldwide, and those channels continue to expand with the advent of cellular and other wireless services. A person can simply take a telephone off-hook and dial a destination number or press a send button and be connected to a telephone line around the world.
Today, the public switching telephone network (PSTN), wireless networks, and private networks telephone services are based on the identification of the wireless telephone or wireline that a calling party uses. A service, often referred to as A caller ID@ provides the party receiving a call with the line number and name of the subscriber of the line number.
One limitation of caller ID is that the identity of the party actually making the call is not received, just the name of the line subscriber. For example, in a private network, if AJoe Smith@ is making a call from ATom Arnold's office line@ only the extension for ATom Arnold's office line@ and an identifier for ATom Arnold@ are transferred to the called party.
Another limitation of caller ID is that the identity of the party answering the call is not returned to the party making the call. For example, in a PSTN, a single line number may be answered by multiple parties, and at multiple telephone devices, where the caller ID does not identity the party answering the call.
A further limitation of caller ID is that a line number and line subscriber name provide a limited context for a call. For example, in a wireless network, where ATom Jenkins@ calls a friend's wireless number, ATom Jenkins@ does not receive any information about whether the call is wireless, how the call is being billed, and whether the wireless number is a business or personal number.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for providing the context of a call, including the actual identities of parties making and receiving calls, the devices at which calls are originated and received, and the owners of the devices at which calls are originated and received. In addition, it would be advantageous to provide additional context information indicating the location of a device originating or receiving a call, where location information may include the time zone, state, country or other locale related specifics.